Freedom fighter and activist
Freedom fighter and activist H S Doreswamy was born on the 10 April 1918 in a village named Harohalli in the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore. He lost his parents at five and was raised by his grandfather. After finishing his primary education in his village, he set forth to Bangalore to pursue his higher education at the Government Intermediate College and completed his graduation from the Central College of Bangalore earning a Bachelor of Science degree. His interest in teaching saw him seek employment as a teacher in a high school in Bangalore where he taught Mathematics and Physics.
A young Doreswamy was drawn to the freedom movement inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and plunged into the Quit India movement organising protests and general strikes in the then Mysore state and was promptly arrested and sent to jail. He collaborated with N D Shankar, freedom fighter and communist in organising a massive 14-day strike in three textile mills. Later, influenced by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in the 1950s, he participated in the Bhoodan movement and in the struggle for unification of Karnataka. Later, he took to journalism and brought out a Kannada newspaper ‘Pauravani’ under the aegis of a publication house named Sahitya Mandira during the British Raj and thereafter.
Doreswamy was a virulent critic of the Emergency in 1975 and dashed off a letter to Indira Gandhi threatening to launch an agitation. This resulted in his being imprisoned for four months. He was active in the movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan that waged a grim battle against the Emergency.
During the 80s, Doreswamy was involved in various movements for the rights of farmers and other marginalised communities and later participated actively in Anna Hazare’s ‘India against corruption’ movement that was launched with a laudable motive of eradicating corruption from public life. Later, Doreswamy plunged headlong into several agitations and was a member of a number of committees working against the encroachment of water bodies in Bangalore. His activism and never say die approach to issues resulted in the construction of six new waste processing plants in Bangalore in the year 2014. Doreswamy also launched an agitation in Kodagu District in Karnataka against the eviction of Adivasis from their lands.
Doreswamy’s critics never took kindly to his propensity to agitate and he was even labelled as a Pakistani sympathiser and an anti-national. Undeterred the freedom fighter continued to fight for what he thought was right and even the threat of violence against him never deterred him or forced him to give up his fight for the rights of the poor and the downtrodden. Doreswamy continued as an indomitable fighter for human rights even after he turned centenarian and it was a familiar sight to witness him in the forefront of agitations and protests in Townhall in Bangalore, holding a placard, braving the merciless sun beating down his back.
The indefatigable crusader never ceased to contribute to the social upliftment and continued to espouse causes dear to his heart. He had many admirers and author and historian Ramachandra Guha described him as the conscience of the state of Karnataka. Several awards and recognitions too came his way including the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2017 he was also given the Gandhi Seva Award. H S Doreswamy who enjoyed robust health right through his long and eventful life breathed his last in Bangalore due to cardiac arrest on the 26 May 2021.
Doreswamy was peerless when it came to taking up civic causes and despite a barrage of criticism and threats from politicians whose shenanigans he never hesitated to expose, the activist never once flinched from his chosen path. A selfless individual who never sought any awards or compensation for himself, Doreswamy always placed society above himself and this was a quality that endeared him to one and all.